I'm still looking forward visiting the stadium. The pictures at least make it look a whole lot nicer than most minor league parks in the region apart from maybe Dunkin Donuts Park in Hartford. The 6,500ish seating capacity (plus lawn/congregate capacity) seems about right to me. 12,000 seats is overkill if 1/2 of them are going to be empty the vast majority of the time. AAA baseball just doesn't draw those types of crowds and congregate/lawn seating sections stand a better chance at pumping up attendance figures than additional fixed seats. Think of it as a outdoor bar/dining destination with a view, the cost of admission is essentially a cover charge, and the game just part of the overall atmosphere. There's a big subset of fans that this appeals to - I used to get the cheapest PC basketball and Providence Bruins tickets we could buy and go sit at the bar with friends (like the games/follow the teams, but enjoy the experience even more). Great atmosphere for beers and the game is better than sports on TV, etc. WooSox ownership knows that a huge chunk of the people attending these games are going to have the field and game as atmosphere while they grab a bite or have a few beers outside in summer with friends. The congregate areas/lawn cater to those fans.
I can't fully judge without experiencing it in person, but I'm wondering if some of the dissenting voices actually remember McCoy? It was about as "meh" as it comes. Even if Polar doesn't knock it out of the park (sorry) with some questionable sight lines and some value engineering, it has to be a pretty dramatic improvement. Northeast Dental Stadium in Manchester is nice enough, but new development around it is inexplicably suburban and it's disconnected despite being walking distance from downtown. Hadlock Field is nothing even remotely special in spite of the fact it's not far from the highway or city center.
